


EdRow High School

by InsertInterestingNameHere



Category: Brave (2012), How to Train Your Dragon (2010), Tangled (2010), rise of the guardians
Genre: Alternate Universe, More characters added later, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-10
Updated: 2013-06-13
Packaged: 2017-12-14 14:27:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/837919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsertInterestingNameHere/pseuds/InsertInterestingNameHere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rapunzel is the new kid at school, after being home schooled for most of her life she face the wonders and horrors of 9th grade. With the help of her new friend's will she be able to survive? </p>
<p>A story of growing up and a story of love, and finding out what's really important in life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Erheks- A combination of the Danish word, Er- which means sea, and Heks- Which means witch.  
> Juane- The French word for Yellow
> 
> For the record, the Ed of the name came from a Disney anagram, and the Row came from the Dreamworks anagram, so it's not named after any actual person, or at least I hope it's not. That would be awkward. Hopefully I'll also be updating every day, but we'll see.

If high school was an easy time, I don’t think there would be as many movies, books, or tv shows about it as there are. The over embellished, over told story of how people discovered themselves, ruined futures, or sometimes even went ahead in life, danced through the minds of nearly every freshmen the night before the fateful start of the dreaded last four years. However, by some misfortune I was stuck at the very beginning of one of these tales.

* * *

 

Maybe if I concentrated really hard I could imagine that I was back home, studying on my computer rather than sitting in the office, my mother tapping her foot impatiently as the lady behind the desk chatted away on the school phone. It obviously hadn’t been my choice to move here. I’d rather be running in the fields of my old house, maybe splashing in the streams by the forest or exploring caves. Anything was better than standing in a stuffy front office, listening to Mother drum her long nails on the counter, slowly growing more and more angry. A quick glance around the room revealed it to be a rather small room, a separate room filled with shelves and a cramped looking table sat to my left, a hallway leading down to separate rooms branching off from it. The other side was almost identical, except for the extra room. The lights were dim, an air of desperation and stress being cast down on any who were unlucky enough to sit there.

 

Nervously, I twisted the strands of my braid that had fallen loose,  though my hand quickly recoiled after a sharp look from Mother. She had worked on it earlier this morning, making it perfect, just like something out of a catalog she  claimed. I couldn’t argue, it certainly looked like something out of a magazine I’d seen when I was younger. Though, I was fairly certain it had been a magazine for children. With a sigh, I looked towards the window. A pair of large olive colored eyes stared back at me framed by long black lashes, which were “curled and styled to perfection”, according to Mother. Idly, I rubbed at the make up plastered over my nose, freeing some of the faint freckles there from their light toned prison. Besides insisting on styling my hair into a ridiculous braid covered with flowers, mother had made sure to do my makeup like one of the girls she’d seen when she googled ‘teenage girl’. Though I wish she hadn’t, I felt as if I was wearing a mask of bacon grease or paint. Bored, and mildly curious, I pressed my nose against the window, watching as some girls, probably a few grades older than me, walked past, chatting animatedly with each other. Everyone seemed to move out of their way as they passed, staring up at them wide eyed. Were those the fabled popular girls, I’d read about in my books? The one who always bullied the new kid? I blinked curiously and was about to ask mother when she cut me off.

 

“Rapunzel! Step away from there!” She snapped, recalling my attention. With a sigh, I turned forward, looking up at her expectantly. Her ice like eyes were narrowed at me annoyed. I stood, straightening out my skirt and walked to her side. It turned out that the woman behind the desk had finally looked up. She flashed a shark like grin.

“How can I help you girls?” She rasped to my surprise. She looked like she would have a pleasant voice as the the one we’d heard. Maybe she smoked? I glanced to her nametag curiously, Vanessa Erheks? Interesting name. Mother spoke up, flashing what I liked to call her business woman smile.

 

“Yes,” she said, waving her hand in a flourish, “We were told to meet the headmaster here, so my dear Rapunzel could sign up for school.” the woman behind the desk, glanced towards me and laughed, though it reminded me of a sea bird cackling, and began dialing a number into the phone.

 

“I’m afraid Mr. Mouse is out at the moment but I’d be happy to let you talk to the Vice Principal,” she said, absentmindedly fiddling with the macaroni colored snail shell she wore on a necklace. Mother nodded.

 

“As long as she starts school today, I’m satisfied.” Ms. Erheks looked as if she could care less and mumbled into the phone before hanging up. I glanced back towards the window and had to fight back a laugh, some tall lanky boy was doing a ridiculous dance while his shorter, and notably older friend was trying to stop and pull him away from the poor girl he’d been shaking his butt at. I returned my attention back to Mother and Ms. Erheks just in time to catch her hang up the phone.

 

“Mr. Black should be here any mi-” she started, picking idly at her nails before a smooth voice with a light accent interrupted her.

 

“Now." They corrected, the amusement and slight annoyance was obvious in their voice, "I will be here now,” turning towards the interruption I saw the source. The first thing that shot through my head was, nose. He was turned to send a glare to the lazy looking Ms. Erheks, and it seemed as if his nose took up over half of his face. Maybe that was normal though? The only glimpses of people I tended to get were those of people on the internet or in movies, and Mother always said that those people were over glamorized.

 

“Mrs. Gothel, I presume,” He said, distracting me from my quest of discovering if my own nose took up that much of my face. Un-crossing my eyes, I looked back towards him though Mother was standing in front of him now.

 

“Ms Gothel.” She emphasized, batting her lashes- and oh god. My mother was flirting. Suffering from secondhand embarrassment I buried my head in my hands, the secretary sending me a slightly sympathetically look. Though, the man didn’t seem too receptive of my mother’s advances, and stepped past her to look at me.

It couldn’t be denied that he had a certain charm about him, even if his parrot nose was kind of distracting. Dark Amber eyes were set into a pale, almost gray, face. His smile was small, probably because his mouth was small. It was probably because his nose stole all of whatever makes your face grow so that the mouth didn’t develop as much. He held a hand towards me and I took it, expecting a handshake. However, he put his other hand on top of mine and turned to look at a glowering Gothel, smiling.

 

“You have a lovely daughter Ms.Gothel.” He pat my hand gently and let go, freeing my hands from what had been a chilling grip, “It will be an honor to have her here at Ed Sander’s.” And with that, he and my mother headed back into one of the offices to the right, leaving me to sit in the office until they were done.

 

* * *

 

After what seemed like hours of playing “count-the-speckles-on-the-roof-tiles” and “figure-out-if-my-nose-was-as-big-as-Mr.Black’s” ,  Mother returned, laughing and waving her hand as if trying to bat away something Mr. Black had said. They stopped in front of my seat and Mother pulled me into a tight hug, smiling broadly.

 

“Well! You have fun dear, Mommy has to teach some friend’s a lesson in cards!” She chirped and pulled away, patting me on the head, “Ta-ta!” And with that, she breezed out of  the room, leaving me with Mr. Black, and Ms.Erheks who looked to be concocting some sort of coffee potion from what I could see. I didn't think it was safe to put that many syrups and mixes into one drink at a time. The man’s small mouth stretched into a smile that looked as if it would rip his face in half.

 

“Ms. Juane,” He called, not looking away from me, even as a girl poked her head out of the cramped looking room to the left of me, “Would you show Miss Rapunzel where her classes are?” I assumed the girl nodded, because he looked towards her, flashing a smile before looking back at me. “I hope you’ll enjoy your first day.” He said and pat me on the shoulder before turning and heading back towards his office. I blinked. Weird. The girl from before walked up to the secretary's desk, grabbing a piece of paper and a few packet looking things. She turned to face me, smiling.

 

She had long brown hair tied back in a ponytail, a few strands falling over the thick framed black glasses that hid brown eyes. Her yellow sweater looked as if it was eating her, or at least her upper half. The oversized garment rested above a pair of dark blue leggings and a pair of dark brown boots. She smiled, flashing some pearly teeth.

 

“You ready to go?” Her voice was soothing and helped me calm my frazzled nerves at the thought of actually getting to sit in a class with other people my age. I shook my head, the end of my braid slapping my ankles. She laughed and pat me on the back, “Come on,” she gestured towards the door, heading out. Scrambling to hurry after her, I almost forgot to grab my backpack. I’d made it myself last night since any chance of sleep had seemed impossible. The entryway of the school was certainly grand. The two story building was opened to the sky by row upon row of skylights, letting the sun flow in. A set of brown, almost amber colored  cone like stairs stairs sat in the middle of the hallway splitting into four, half way up and curling up to the two walkways that lined the hallway, casting shadows down onto the flower beds that sat next to the benches that littered the sides of the hall randomly. A large stain glass window behind us cast a rainbow down onto the dark colored tiles leading up the stairs. Subconsciously I sucked in a breath at the total elegance of the building, beside me the girl smirked.

 

“Cool, isn’t it?, “ She said patting me on the shoulder once more. I nodded in total awe of the place. “Most of it was designed be some old students before they came to school here, so it’s basically a fancy version of an elementary school kid’s drawing.” I glanced at her from the corner of my eye, closing my mouth. That certainly explained the curving stairs. “Anyway,” she looked down at one of the papers she held. “You’ve already missed first and second period, but I’ll show you where to go anyway.” With that, she started a brisk walk towards the stairs, which I had now secretly started calling the Seuss stairs. I hurried after her once more, praying that not all people walked this fast, otherwise whoever got stuck behind me in the halls would probably get really mad.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Point of view should be changing every chapter, so enjoy Merida's!

If I had to sit through one more of Yzma’s lectures, I was pretty sure I would kill myself. The woman, who Kuzco swore up and down, was from the Jurassic era, continued on with her description of how exactly the digestive system of a llama stored and got rid of the waste. She had an odd fascination with animals.

With a puff, I blew a lock of red hair from my face. Damn thing was unmanageable, I’d barely managed to shove it into a ponytail, and that was only two hours ago. I briefly wondered if it would be worth it to spend the four hours straightening it. However, when I felt the rubber band that was hardly doing anything to hold it back snap, I surrendered to my fate and dropped my head onto the desk with a groan.

Glancing through the curls, I could just barely make out the wall on the clock. 11:05. I still had six minutes to suffer through. With another groan I crossed my arms and laid on them my hair working as the perfect shield to block out Yzma’s ramblings.

Maybe I could walk to the ranch after school. Ride Angus for a few hours to relax or something. Everything seemed to be going the same lately, stuck in a rut almost, turning my head to the side I breathed out through my nose if slight frustration. When would something change? Even a half year into school, it didn’t seem any different than middle school had been. The “Princesses” were still the royal bitches they’d always been, the “Prince” were still idolized, and the “Fairies” were still the cheerleaders that I was pretty sure they’d always be. My hair rustled when someone shook my shoulder.

“Merida, Merida!” Someone hissed. I scowled slightly and turned minimally towards the other side to send a lazy glare to the girl sitting next to me. Her long periwinkle hair was held back by what was probably supposed to be a bunch of leaves and seeds or something, but it only looked like a bunch of rocks to me. Her eyes were shielded by a pair of glasses that reminded me vaguely of telescopes. She was scowling at me in slight annoyance, her blue eyes staring at me as if she couldn’t believe that I would try to sleep in the last few minutes of class. With a grumble I buried my head into my arms once again.

“What do you want Atta?” Most of the student body had taken to calling her Atta Ant behind her back, and her boyfriend, Flick- What kind of person names their kid _Flick_?- Flick the Tick, with how often he followed her around. She sent me a surprised look, probably because I didn’t usually respond when she called me.

“Well, I mean,” She scrambled for a moment to think of a reply, “We have a test on Friday over the systems, so I think you should at least be copying down notes?” She offered with a hopeful smile, her eye twitching. This chick seriously needed to relax sometimes. Knowing she wouldn’t leave me alone until I least sat up, I did with a sigh, slumping into my seat, crossing my arms annoyed.

“Y’know, not all of us are trying to keep on the honor roll,” I muttered under and she looked at me curiously, not having heard me clearly. She raised a brow.

“Wha-” The bell rang before she could finish and I let out a small cheer and stood, quickly gathering my notebook and pencil, quickly stuffing them into my purse. Mom had bought it on a shopping spree, claiming I could take it to the beach some time, though we never went and the only use it seemed good for was school considering that was the only place I went that I needed a purse at.

With a brief wave at a scrambling Atta, I hurried out of class, swinging my purse over my shoulder. Glad to be free of it I hurried down the hall towards my next class, the bag hitting my hip with each step. Class after class had dragged on, but I was finally getting to go to my favorite class of the day, gym.

Odd, I know, but when you had Mr.Philoctetes for an Olympic trainer, there wasn’t much you could complain about. The short man was probably one of the few reasons that I even went to school, because he never told me what I needed to do and only bothered me occasionally, meaning I could pretty much do whatever I wanted to do. Whether that be sneak of campus and get food for myself -Phil’s rule was as long as we brought him back some weird Greek food that we were allowed to leave- or practice with my bow for 45 minutes. I continued down the hall just relieved that I could try the new trickshot that I’d read about the night before, that I didn’t notice the blonde with her nose shoved into a schedule.

Stumbling back I scowled down at the girl who was now scrambling to collect all of her things from the floor. Her blond hair looked like something you could get done at an amusement park. Braid, upon braid, upon braid. Must have taken her hours. That and all of the different flowers she had tucked in there, though it looked as if people had been picking the petals and lovely braid apart bit by bit. She winced as an unknowing, or rather, uncaring person stepped on the long hair. I crouched down to grab a few of the paintbrushes that had fallen from the bag that was barely being held together. She looked up and shook her head frantically.

“No, no It’s ok! I’ve got it!” She offered a forced smile and took the brushes from me gently. She looked as if she’d rather been having a rough day. I shrugged and kept picking them up anyway.

“Ye’d never get them all back without help,” I said and continued looking around the floors and grabbing them. The blond looked mortified. Yep. Definitely having a bad day. After crawling for a few minutes we managed to recollect everything and shove it into the tattered looking bag. I had a theory she had met Anastasia and Drizella some point in the day. She smiled gratefully and stood.

“Thanks,” she said with a semi-sheepish look. I waved a hand dismissively. She was probably new, and it wasn’t like it was a big deal. The bell for class rang and she made a sound of defeat, her shoulders slumping. “Great, and now I’m late on my first day!” She said throwing her hands up, managing to knock a piece of my hair. She looked over startled, “I’m sorry!” She looked me over, as if making sure she hadn’t injured me in any way.

“Just breathe Goldilocks,” I said with a grin, hoping to show her it was all good. She seemed to bristle lightly at the nickname, but did manage to take a short breathe. “There, better?” She nodded.

“Sorry, I’m just not used to all this,” The blonde said with a shrug smiling hopefully, clutching the straps to her bag tightly. I nodded in understanding. She held her hand out and I blinked curiously, “I’m Rapunzel, what’s your name?” Rapunzel asked smiling a little wider.

“Merida Dun Broch,” I replied taking her hand firmly, watching amused as her smile seemed to double in size. After briefly looking over her schedule we discovered that we were heading the same way and continued on our way, talking over how she’d gotten here and what her first day had been like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's a little shorter than yesterday's, a friend came over so I didn't have as much time to work on it as I'd liked.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ya, so it's not up to par with the past two I believe, but it is twice as long, so hopefully that helps it some? 
> 
> This one is in Jack's point of view!

_Swish_! I can’t help the satisfied smile as I fly off the bar, latching onto the next one. The simple feeling of euphoria of trusting my body not to fall is ingrained into my muscles. I feel the muscles of my wrist pull taught, my arm’s straining as I lift myself slightly before continuing. Twisting my hands I launch off the bar flipping once, twice, and touch down! Shit. My knees wobbled just a miniscule bit, but of course he caught it.

 

“It would have been perfect if your footing stuck.” A wavering voice snaps in annoyance. With a sigh I reach to pull out my headphones out, “Starships” blasting for the world to hear, and peek my eyes open to catch sight of the coach. He’s a short man with a mostly bald head, red hair flying off the sides, leading down into the weird goat like goatee he wears. His large cheeks are red with what I think is probably anger. “I told ya Jack, you have to watch the ground when ye fall!” He snarks, slapping my knees in annoyance, going through the steps one at time, though he knew I was ignoring him.

 

“Coach, lighten up, I was just goofing around!” The bell hadn’t even rung yet, I flashed my signature grin, hoping he would ease off. It worked, as always. Fighting back a satisfied grin, I watched as the little man puffed out a breath, his cheeks lightened a few shades as he calmed down. “I’ll be ready for the competition, don’t worry,” He waved a hand and shoved my leg back towards the bars.

 

“Bah. Just go practice some more, ok kid?” He grumbled before wobbling his way back towards Herc who had just come into the gym. Chuckling to myself I looked above me at the chalky bar. Brushing my hands on my pants, which were already covered with chalk, I sucked in a breath, getting ready to jump. I felt the muscles of my legs tense up as I rolled back and forth on the balls of my feet a couple times. Letting out the breath, I jumped as high as I could, easily catching hold of it. It bent lightly against my weight and I heard it creak as I turned over it a few times. With a curse I felt as my ipod tumbled out of the waistband of my pants and down towards the ground. A pale hand shot out, quickly catching it. No time to think about it I continued my routine, twisting and flipping in the air swiftly. After about a half minute I was tired out though and let go of the bar on my last flip, this time falling backwards to land on my back to the heavily padded mat beneath the bar. Glancing up I saw the boy cheekily grinning down at me.

 

“Wow Jack, are falling for me already?” He had a boyish face, his nose and bright blue eyes scrunched up in his smile. His fluffy red locks were plastered to his face with sweat, and very obvious stains were beginning to form in the armpits of his green tank top. Phil had probably making him work extra hard, his competition was next week, and there was no way he would let “The boy who never grows up” loose that one, and with a double block, it wasn’t surprising that he wouldn’t.  He offered a hand to me and taking it, he pulled me to my feet.

 

“Oh you know it Petey,” I couldn’t help but grin back, his was infectious. He childishly stuck out his tongue at the nickname, but remained smiling.

 

“Phil says he wants you to go practice on the ice and to let me at this.” He said nodding his head above us. I glance to where Phil is coaching some chick on Archery -Which I honestly see no point in, all you have to do is point and shoot, right?- and back towards the boy in front of me who is smiling kind of sheepishly.

 

“Sure, why not,” With a light shrug, I take back my ipod he offers to me and step of the blue mats onto the hard wooden floor of the gym. “Take care of Barbra for me,” I flash a grin and he gives me a thumbs up before beginning to loosen up. The Barbra thing had been an ongoing joke between us for the past semester. Phil had been furious after we’d painted his face when he was asleep and had told us to go back to practicing on Barbra, instead of the high bar. We had even gone so far as to scrawl Barbra on the side of the rod after the incident.

 

The gym was mostly empty, most of the students tended to ditch rather than actually show up for class, and then they’d stay after school to train even longer. I wasn’t so lucky, seeing as I actually had a job after school, so I took every chance possible to train. My fan club was determined to see me on tv when I was older and there was no way I was letting them down.

 

Herc always tended to hover around the weights and track, a little too intimidated to try anything on the bars or range, though I was sure I’d seen the large red head swimming with

 

A few minutes later after finally finishing lacing up my last skate, I stepped onto the small ice rink, sneaking a glance around, I quickly slid out further to the side of the ice rink, crouching to brush my fingers along the cool surface. I probably wasn’t supposed to be on here without my jacket, but the cool air rising from the ice felt amazing after working out for what, 8 minutes at most? Wow. I really needed to practice on keeping my perspiration levels lower. Plugging the ear buds back into my ear I continued gliding smoothly across the ice, just taking a moment to relax.

* * *

 

Too soon, Phil was  calling us back to the center mat. Blowing air harshly through my nose I skated back to the edge of the rink, quickly undoing my skates and shoving back into their cubby hole. Padding across the more than likely reeking blue pads, I reached him as the other four did.

 

“Right, so our training regimen for the rest if the week is going to change up,” Phil started, glancing at each of us in turn, his small eyes landing on Petey he continued, “Peter, I need you to practice more on the high bar, those turns need to be perfect and you need to keep your feet up when you do a giant, the horizontal is pretty good so far just make sure you actually move forward when you gainer.You have to make sure to hit that dismount though kid, understood?” When the red headed boy nodded, Phil turned his gaze to the next redhead in line - I swear, there were way too many in here. Seriously, I was the only brunet in the entire class!.

 

“Herc, we talked earlier about what you need to do, so I ain’t gonna even bother explaining it again,” He said with a wave of his hand. Herc was like a dog, he always did whatever training Phil told him to do, and it definitely showed in his progress since the beginning of the year.

 

“Ariel. I know you’ve been practicing hard on that dive, but again, the diving board is not a place to text your friend’s, and if I catch you at it again, I swear to whatever deity there is, that I will toss that damn _shell phone_ -” You could practically feel the air quotes. A brief explanation, she had continually insisted that her Daddy had bought her the most eco friendly phone possible, and that it would help clams from going extinct. We’d started calling it the shell phone ever since. “-into the ocean that you keep saying it’ll save!!” His face was almost as red as the potato like nose in the middle of his face. She scoffed and crossed her arms, not really caring what he said. It wasn’t like she had chosen to be in here. Dance had been full, and her father had insisted. Still scowling, he turned to the last redhead with a huff.

 

“Merida, like I said, practice some more with the training string, we’ve still got a ways to go before you can reach the weight of a real competition bow.” The rest of the class and I severely doubted that. Phil hadn’t been around when she’d decked Drizella for calling her fat. Pretty sure I was never going to see that much blood from a nose and mouth ever again. Damn it had been awesome though. She shrugged lightly and Phil continued, a little more calmer than before.

 

“Jack, I need you to-”

 

“I know I know,” I sent him a lopsided grin, “Practice my landings and a few different glides. You told me last week,” Ignoring his frustration at being cut off, I pat his head and walked past him, heading towards the dressing rooms to change. I could hear him yelling at Ariel again when I was halfway there and couldn’t help snickering to myself.

 

Pushing the door to the room open, I continued in, heading through the cramped and stinky room towards my itty bitty locker. I used to have a bigger one, but after Peter stored his prank equipment in mine before an inspection, I was reduced to one that was barely big enough to hold my clean clothes. Humming to some song that was stuck in my head, I began peeling off my tank top and dropping it onto the bench while unlocked my locker. Idly, turning the dial I heard a set of feet approaching from around the corner. Herc and Peter on their way to take a shower no doubt. I did usually, but didn’t feel like showering with no curtain today. I tugged off my workout pants and attempted to yank my clean pants from the cramped space.

 

“Oh god, I’m so sorry!!” A voice screeched. I turned, startled to see a flash of blonde duck behind the lockers. I raised a brow curiously.

 

“Hello?” I took a step towards them, tugging my clean shirt on. Half of a face poked out from behind them before ducking back around the metal again.

 

“I’m sorry! I thought this was- Oh god I’m so stupid!” Whoever it was yelled at themselves. Even curiouser, I poked my head around to come face to face with a girl. Which, I suppose was odd for a boys locker room, but to each their own I suppose?

 

“Go in the wrong room?” I suggested, mildly amused as she nodded miserably.

 

“Aurora told me that people switched the signs and that this was actually the lockers..” She trailed off with a sigh. I pat her shoulder sympathetically and offered a smile.

 

“Happens to the best of us. I’m Jack by the way,” she looked up, her eyes slightly watery from the embarrassment and smiled.

 

“Rapunzel,” I grinned and held my elbow towards her. She blinked curiously and looked up at me.

 

“Well Ms. Rapunzel, as the official welcomer of all lost women to the land of smelly pits and jock straps,” She laughed slightly, “I believe it is my duty to escort you to the correct room.” I bowed with a flourish as she laughed and took my arm daintily and turned her nose upwards.

 

“Yes I believe it is!” She huffed, peeking towards me she smiled broadly, “Come, let us not waste time!” Chuckling to myself, I led her, still in my boxers towards the conjoining doors of the locker rooms. After a minute or so I stopped in front of them, retrieving my arm and bowed once more.

 

“Here we are m’lady,” I said gesturing towards the door. She hurried towards it, pushing the door open and ducking in. I grinned to myself and straightened up, heading back towards my locker until the creak of a door stopped me.

 

“Hey Jack?” I turned to see Rapunzel poking her head out, smiling gratefully.

 

“Ya?”

 

“Thanks,” She smiled a little wider then left, the door closing behind her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Hiccup's a little awkward, but well, I'm not sure, I just need to watch more of the show and movie probably.   
> And he's still in his whole, "Crush on Astrid" phase, but he'll get out of that soon, don't worry!

Astrid’s hair was down today. It was usually up, but today she’d left it down. I breathed out a content sigh, my head slipping a bit where it rested between my hands. I had the perfect view of the class, the very back  left corner. I could see everyone without being cramped behind a wall, and I was sitting next to  the second whiteboard, so when Mr.Gene would ramble on about one topic or another, I could look around anywhere I wanted without being noticed. Though, mostly I tended to watch Astrid or her friends. They were a  grade ahead of me, and I so wished I’d taken my uncle’s advice and skipped that grade now.

 

She was whispering to one of the twins now, something about shopping after school. Maybe I could tag along? I’d do anything if she asked me. I breathed out with a sigh. God I really needed to get over this girl. Three and a half years of watching her pass Uncle Gobber’s shop and I had nothing to show for it. I mean sure she knew who I was, but it wasn’t like she actually noticed or had a conversation. Well, there was that one time in October when she’d asked me for a pencil. Did that count? I think that counted.

 

“-ock”

 

Or in December when I used to sit behind her. She’d turned around and smacked me with her braid and had spent a half a second apologizing, then staring at me skeptically when I didn’t respond.

 

“Mr.Hado-”   
  
Yep. It was official. I was just the weird kid who had sat behind her and lent her a pencil that one time. Maybe I needed a new hobby? Yeah, I definitely needed a new hobby.

 

“Psst. Earth to Mr. Haddock.” A voice whispered beside me, it sounded vaguely like a cartoon character’s voices. Like Woody Woodpecker or something? Startled, I fell sideways with a shout. The class laughed quietly as I clung onto the edge of my desk frantically. And cue the blush. Great. Now she’d think I was the blushing idiot who once lent her a pencil, and used to sit behind her, that had almost fallen out of his seat.

 

The owner of the voice straightened, pulling his vest back into place. He flashed a wide smile. “Well good to see you’re still with us kid!” A large hand flew down to pat my shoulder. I offered a crooked smile, the one that my friends, if I had friends, probably would’ve made fun of.

 

“Sorry, Mr. Genie- I mean Gene! Sorry Mr. Gene.” I righted myself, trying to do so smoothly, only to manage knocking my pencil and notebook off the desk and sliding away. The bell rang over head and I sighed. Great, I hadn’t even taken the time to copy the notes down.

 

“Next time,” Mr.Gene sent me grin, “We don’t stare at the pretty girl the whole period, ok?” He said with a conspiratorial wink, only succeeding in making my already embarrassed blush brighten.  He turned back towards the class as they started to pack up. “Don’t forget! We have our test tomorrow over proportions!” There was a collective groan in response, “Snotlout I expect that homework tomorrow!!” The boy complained loudly, but Mr.Gene waved it away and continued talking.

 

None of that really had much to do with me, so I went about trying to locate the binder that I had lost. Ducking down to look under my desk with a scowl, I barely noticed the brown boots that stepped into my peripheral view.

 

“Hey,” I don’t think I’ve ever sat up so fast in my life. But of course, I had to be smooth and whack my head on the bottom of the desk. Wow Hiccup, you’re just the coolest guy in the world aren’t you? Mentally chastising myself, and rubbing my now bashed in head, I turned to look at the source of the voice. Her eyebrow was quirked in either a sympathetic, or a ‘What is wrong with this guy?’ way. I wasn’t sure but she was standing there in front of me, holding, viola! My binder. She held it towards me.

 

“This is your, right?” I nodded dumbly and took it with two hands, probably looking even more like a brain dead idiot, “Great. Those are really good by the way,” She nodded towards the binder I now had in a death grip. My eyes quickly darted down to the sketches I’d done of Toothless before looking back at her.

 

“Oh, uh thanks! You’re uh- I like your braid?” I offered with once again the smile that I absolutely hated. Ok, that was definitely a ‘What is wrong with this guy?’ eyebrow raised. She nodded slowly.

 

“Right, uh, see you around then.” She backed off slowly before turning and hurrying to catch up with her friends. I waved after her slowly, the blonde’s friends sending me a ‘what the hell’ kind of look in response.

 

* * *

 

I’m pretty sure my brain had exploded and was now leaking behind me as I walked. Judging by all the looks I was getting, I was probably right. Letting loose another dreamy sigh, the fifth in the past minute, I headed towards the library. Not having friends made it kind of hard to eat anywhere in the cafeteria without being stared at as if I had two heads.

 

The library was like a refuge for anyone who didn’t have anywhere to go, and while Mr.Cogsworth seemed like he’d rather the place be empty and be used more like a museum, he always made sure his ‘regulars’ as he called us, were happy. He’d even set out tea for us! Which, I always looked forward to. He’d gotten me a cup with one of my drawings printed on the side as a Christmas present. The smiling dragon that was plastered on it had been something from a story I’d been secretly writing for the past year and a half, but he didn’t need to know that. But, he always made sure to put that one out for me.

 

Strolling in, still in the haze of bliss from having talked to Astrid, I wandered to the counter, expecting to see the special  cup, only to spot two left over with a classic winking yellow face, and one with a poor attempt at a joke/pun. Well, there goes some of the good feeling, I could feel the smile slowly slipping off my face and turned, wondering who had thought it was ok to take it. More than likely Elizabeth or Arthur had taken it. Their noses always stuck in a book, I wouldn’t be surprised.Which was ok, since it was an honest mistake, but it was my cup and I went about tracking the pair down.

 

* * *

 

Nothing, not even a sign of the pair! I’d spent most of the lunch period, which I could have been using to actually work on my sketches or story, trying to find the cup! It wasn’t like it was a big deal or anything, but it was my cup! I stalked over to Mr.Cogsworth who was shelving some books. He was a short and round man, and his auburn hair was pulled back, the ends brushing the collar of his

 

“Hiccup! Good to see you, “ he said smiling widely when he spotted me. I leaned against the bookshelf with a sour look.

 

“My cup is gone.” I grumbled. Mr.Cogsworth paused and put the book he was holding back on the cart. His eyes darted skyward momentarily while he thought. “I already looked around, but I couldn’t find it anywhere,” I huffed. Wow Hiccup, it’s just a cup, it’s not like it was the only one in the world, just use another.

 

He glanced past me towards a table tucked into a corner of bookshelves. “Perhaps she has it?” Mr.Cogsworth said nodding towards it. I turned and looked. I definitely hadn’t looked there. It was my spot, so why would I need to? But, lo and behold there was someone’s shoulder peeking around the corner, “The poor thing is new and she didn-” I was already walking away.

 

Taking a breath I peeked around the corner to catch sight of the girl. Well, the back of her head was pretty. Not as pretty as Astrid’s, but a close second. The braid was odd though I suppose. Leaning further, I peeked over her shoulder, catching sight of the handle of a familiar cup. Nodding to myself I heaved a breath. In case you hadn’t noticed, talking to girls wasn’t exactly my forte. “Um excuse me?” She turned and I offered once again, the smile that I hated and walked around the shelf, to stand by the table. A set of green eyes blinked up at me curiously. Briefly biting the inside of my lip I continued, “That’s my cup.” I pointed awkwardly to the mug beside her before actually bothering to look at it.

 

Guess what? Not my mug. It was the stupid cat one that Alice insisted was the cutest thing.

 

“Or not.” I trailed off, feeling my cheeks heat up. My eyes darted back towards her. She was smiling, a mixture of curiosity and confusion, and what was probably a bit of amusement. “I’m just gonna,” I gestured over my shoulder with my thumb and she continued watching me. “Sorry,” and with that I turned stalking off, muttering to myself.

 

Great, so now I could add one more person who thought I was a raging lunatic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I'll be leaving tomorrow for a two week vacation (FLORIDA HERE I COME!) and so the updating will be a little wonky, but worry not, I will try to do my best! And you'll probably get a pretty long chapter tomorrow night as well. Who knows, maybe a little surf and sand will help me get more ideas for the next chapter!


End file.
